Reese Trip: Day 2, Neuschwanstein

The next day we got up early and caught a train to Neuschwanstein.  It took a couple of hours, but the view was breathtaking.  It was our first glimpse of the German Alps. We traveled to a little village which was home to Germany's most popular tourist castle Neuschwanstein.  While we were living there, we learned that most GErmans don't actually consider it a real castle since it was built to look Medieval and it was never completed.  They think it is funny that so many Americans and Japanese flock to see it.  But since we are tourists, it was still on top of our list of things to see.

Neuschwanstein is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner.  It was started in 1868, Ludwig destroyed two medieval castles in order to build his own romantic, medieval style castle.  Had it been completed, the palace would have had more than 200 interior rooms, including premises for guests and servants as well as for service and logistics. Ultimately, no more than about 15 rooms and halls were finished.  You can only tour about 11 of these rooms today.  Neuschwanstein means swan and so there were swan decor throughout the castle from the door handles, facets, carvings, and decorations.  The entire castle was extravagant and luxurious.  One room was designed to look like a cave grotto to remind Ludwig of the grottos beneath his Linderhof castle. 

When Ludwig II died in 1886, Neuschwanstein was still incomplete. The king never intended to make the palace accessible to the public. But within six weeks after the king's death the palace was opened to paying visitors and still is.  Because it is in such a remote location, it was untouched in both World Wars.  Walt Disney used it as inspiration behind his version of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland.  It looks very similar.  We told Ainsley that this was the real Sleeping Beauty's castle and so the entire time we were in there, she kept asking me where Sleeping Beauty's room was.  

 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I found these ones on the web to help us remember how extravagant and beautiful the interior was.  We only saw about 10 rooms because that is all that was finished in the castle.  

 

This was the view of the castle  from Mary's bridge, it was beautiful!  You could see the whole valley below it.  We only had a few minutes to enjoy it though because we had a specific time on our ticket in order to tour the castle.  So we snapped a few pictures then rushed down to the castle to tour the inside. 

Neuschwanstein overlooks Hohenschwangau Castle which was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria.  In fact, Ludwig referred to his new castle as the "New Hohenschwangau."  It was only named Neuschwanstein after his death.

This was Mary's Bridge where we stood and took pictures of Neuschwanstein.  It is over a gigantic gorge. 

The Red Gate-the entrance into the Castle courtyard

After we saw the castle, we had to hike back down to the village.  Grandpa Reese paid for the girls to all ride in a horse drawn carriage.  Ainsley was pretty excited, she had been asking to ride in a horse carriage for a long time.